I do see that in the Partition tab of disk utility, it says "To erase and partition the selected disk..." Is the only way to make a clone (or to partition an existing HD and put a clone in the new partition) to erase it?!?!

Well it's a good thing I'm getting this new computer because mine is being very weird and very slow. I can't attach the image to this message for some reason. You should be able to see it at http://www.tuzmusic.com/partitionscreen.png

Note, by the way, that I am on my current computer which is Lion, not Mountain Lion.

Well I partitioned a different drive (once I hit "Apply" a message came up saying it wouldn't erase anything) and am currently creating a clone on this HD that I will use with Setup assistant.

So I guess back to my original question though: this original computer has been slow and a little weird (it's been acting up a lot since I started all this partitioning and duping and everything). It seems unlikely to me that this is all about its "physical body" being 4 1/2 years old and not about having a good amount of "junk" on it slowing it down. Which would mean that if I am transferring all the junk I currently have (minus some cleaning) through Setup assistant to a new computer, it's just the same junk on a newer computer. Am I totally wrong with this?

The actual practical question is, once I have the clone, what are the best places to clean up so that my new computer is clean as can be?

Clean up the clone booted up from the clone. That way if you make any mistakes you can just clone it again.

As far as your present system suddenly becoming slow it may be due to Spotlight indexing going on. Check your Spotlight icon to be sure it isn't re-indexing. If it is it will be extremely slow as it's running a processor intensive task.

After that, boot up from the clone, again waiting for any indexing to complete and see if the clone operates normally.

In terms of cleaning up, that was indeed my point. What I want to know is what are the best ways to clean up? Not necessarily the tools to use, I mean, moreso what to look for to clean up and where to find it.

How do I boot from the clone, and why is that better than just cleaning up the clone as if it were a hard drive I was cleaning up?

In terms of cleaning up, that was indeed my point. What I want to know is what are the best ways to clean up? Not necessarily the tools to use, I mean, moreso what to look for to clean up and where to find it.

Clean up the apps you no longer use. Once you clean that up along with the associated files you should be good to go. In fact, as I've said, you could just do a straight upgrade install and erase whatever you want afterwards.

So this is all a bit of overkill.

How do I boot from the clone, and why is that better than just cleaning up the clone as if it were a hard drive I was cleaning up?

Boot up holding the option key to Startup Manager. There you can choose the volume you want to boot from.

It's beetr becaue if you make a mistake you can start over by erasing an cloning again and your original is still intact.

So it sounds to me like you're saying the only thing that might be "polluting" and slowing down the computer, besides indexing, and besides the actual physical age and wear on any parts, is applications and their associated files. And that any other data -- documents, music, etc -- don't make a difference. Am I understanding this correctly?

Yes. What matters is free disk space matters and any third party items you have in System Preferences > Users & Groups > Login Items. I wouldn't be worried about your own data unless you have a known corrupt file. But it sounds like your Mac is running fine! Which is why I suggested a straight upgrade in the first place. But now that you've taken it this far, please continue...

Thanks folks, this is very helpful! I guess all these ideas about the computer being "polluted" goes back to Windows days. It definitely does seem like I will just "upgrade" from my current computer. If I wanted to run Setup Assistant to use the clone, would I have to do it by booting up my old computer from the clone? Or could I just hook up the clone's hard drive to the new computer, and keep using my old one while the new one migrates? If not, I'll just run Setup from my old one as you say.

So I'm looking at the login items and most I recognize (helpers for itunes, dropbox, etc). I wonder if anyone knows about any of these and whether I can get rid of them:

GrowlHelpeApp (I do know what Growl is, so I'm guessing this is what allows it to work)

OpenDNS Updater (I read an article about OpenDNS quite a while ago, and I installed it but I don't even know if I set it up in a way that actually runs.)

SIMBL Agent

GetBackupAgent

HPScheduler and HPEventHandler (We used to have an HP printer but don't anymore. Also I used to have a Palm Pre but I think that was even before they were bought by HP so I doubt this is related)

Also, at what amount of free disk space would that start to effect the performance of the computer?

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